Dibaba, Yeshaneh to duel in Delhi Half Marathon
MUMBAI: Triple Olympic gold medallist and 5,000m record holder Tirunesh Dibaba, will be competing in the Delhi Half Marathon on October 21. Regarded as the world’s finest female distance runner, the Ethiopian athlete will eye a purse of $$27,000.
Fondly called ‘Baby Faced Destroyer’, Dibaba’s past accolades include winning gold medals in 5,000 and 10,000 metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and another gold in 10,000 metres at the 2012 London Olympics. She is also a five-time winner of the World Championship apart from claiming top honours in four World Cross Country races.
In Delhi, Dibaba will face stiff competition from her compatriot Ababel Yeshaneh, who currently holds the Ethiopian half marathon record of 65.46 minutes in Copenhagen on September 16. Coincidentally, Dibaba finished third in a full marathon in Berlin on the same day.
The record at the Delhi half marathon stands at 66:54 by Kenya’s Mary Keitany achieved in 2009. Dibaba will race in India after 15 years. She had last featured in a 500m race in Hyderabad in 2003. She was only 18 then.
“After Berlin, I felt good about myself and felt I could still run fast over the half marathon despite the short recovery time. I didn’t achieve my aims completely in Berlin, although I certainly have to be pleased with my performance, because I went there to win and run faster than my time of 2:18:55 so there is no better race than the Delhi Half Marathon to make my return to racing,” Dibaba was quoted as saying in a press release.
GEBRHIWET IN FRAY
In the men’s section of the halfmarathon, the main attraction is going to be Hagos Gebrhiwet, who is also from Ethiopia. Hagos was the winner of a bronze medal in 5000m at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He has also claimed two 5000m world championships medals—a silver at Moscow in 2013 and a bronze at Beijing in 2015.